May 20, 2006

This was the 2nd annual "Thunder on the Smoky" motorcycle rally and races in
Marquette, Kansas. Somehow I missed the 1st annual event. Marquette
is in the Smoky Hills (hence the name of the event), not too far west of
McPherson.

Kansas

A farmhouse just south of town.

Welcome to Marquette.

It seems I parked my Daytona between Matt Mladin and Nicky Hayden. A nice
assortment of motorcycles--mostly Harley-Davidson, true, but still a good
assortment.

There was a very good turn-out, and quite a few vendors set up in the
closed-street.

There's a nice motorcycle museum in Marquette largely supplied by Stan
Engdahl--one of Kansas' best racers of the past. It has an eclectic
mix of motorcycles: several racing bikes mixed with a whole range of cheap
entry level machines. These smaller old bikes were often just tossed
out when they were used up, so they're actually pretty rare.

Comfortable looking house in Marquette.

This is a funnel cake. A classic unwholesome meal (?) always available
at such events as this and at county fairs. Not something you'd want
to eat everyday, but awfully good, nonetheless.

The local theater was showing free motorcycle movies I stayed to watch
the last half of "On any Sunday."